Keith E. Wandell, formerly of Johnson Controls, has been named President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, Inc.; Matt Levatich has returned from running MV Agusta to become Harley-Davidson Motor Company President and COO; and Enrico D'Onofrio, formerly CFO at Ducati and a bona fide pasta-loving Italian, will become Managing Director of MV Agusta as part of a management shake up prompted by the retirement of current President and CEO Jim Ziemer. You'll remember that, just last week, Ziemer told The New York Times to "file [Harley's] obituary where the sun don't shine" after the paper exposed a house of cards-like financial situation at The Motor Company. We're guessing this new management has been chosen with an eye to pulling Harley out of that crisis.>

We couldn't care less about the new Harley leadership -- sure to bemind-numbingly boring corporate reshuffling of the kind that involvesstock options and keys to executive bathrooms rather than anythingremotely motorcycle related -- but we do care about the new leadershipat MV Agusta. Levatich's initial management, of which we've admittedlyheard very little, raised initial concerns due to his being a corporatestooge from Harley, rather than a long-lunch-taking,all-of-August-as-holiday Italian. It's reassuring to see the storiedbut troubled manufacturer back under domestic management, evenif its backers are in a newly precipitous financial position. We'llbring you more analysis as things become clearer.